The present invention relates to structures comprising a plurality of individual panels connected together by a support system into a predetermined configuration. The types of structures which can be formed in accordance with the present invention are virtually limitless. For example, larger panels can be utilized to form building structures, generally but not necessarily of an outdoor and/or temporary nature such as a tool shed, a doghouse, a playhouse, a garden shelter, a storm shelter, an emergency shelter, etc. Furniture items which can be formed in accordance with the present invention would include for example cabinets, bookshelves, display cases, tables, etc. Room partitions of virtually any arrangement can be formed in accordance with the present invention, for example, to form room dividers, office partitions, trade show booths, etc. Toys would include smaller versions of the above described structures as well as a set of polygonal panels with cords and collars from which the user could make any number of various polyhedron shapes.
All of the kinds of structures which can be made in accordance with the present invention, other than toys, are of course well known per se. However, as known heretofore, such structures have either been manufactured (a) in the final configuration in which the item tends to be relatively bulky, thereby increasing inventory and freight costs associated with storing and shipping such structures or (b) in a knocked-down unassembled form, in which cases the disadvantages have existed that the task of assembling them has been quite complex and/or said structures, once assembled, did not have a high level of strength and/or rigidity and/or assembly of such structures needed extensive use of tools and related skills. In still other cases, some of the structures to which the present invention is applicable have not been preassembled at all, but rather, simply formed from basic raw materials at the point of use, as for example in the case of certain building structures and room partitions. With respect to toys, while various kinds of assemblable and disassemblable toys are known, none are known using the features of the present invention.
In the previous applications identified above, there is described the concept of an assemblable lamp shade and assemblable containers which are made by assembling individual panels together by a support system of the type utilized in the present invention. Prior to my said previous applications, there were several patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,245, showing lamp shades formed of individual panels, but wherein the individual panels were held together by rigid connecting elements rather than by an elastic tension support system, such that they had to be preassembled by the manufacturer and could not be readily assembled by the ultimate user.